2023S Review Questions 2

A project manager is leading a project with seven key stakeholders. What should the project manager consider as the most important part of stakeholder management?

• Avoid challenging stakeholders.

• Make changes to the project schedule in real-time.

• Ensure all stakeholders receive the same information.

• Establish good working relationships with all stakeholders.

Answer explanation

Relationships between the project manager, the project’s stakeholders, and the project team are very important. The most critical part of stakeholder management is relationships.

After 20% of a project was completed, the customer made the decision to change the provider for data center implementation. The new provider project manager requested a meeting with the customer to clarify how the project will be impacted if the requirements are not well gathered. Which are the project areas that could be impacted if the requirements are not well gathered? (Choose 3.)

• Cost

• Quality assurance

• Schedule

• Quality customer service

• Quality planning

Answer explanation

Data gathering techniques that can be used but are not limited:

- Brainstorming

- Interviews

- Focus groups

- Questionnaires and surveys

- Benchmarking

A project manager sends out requests for regular status meetings and daily standup meetings during the project setup phase. However, business stakeholders are declining the meetings. What should the project manager do?

• Discuss optional stakeholder representation.

• Create a communications management plan.

• Set up a project team room.

• Hold a project kick-off meeting.

Answer explanation

The stakeholders did not engage in the project because clear expectations were not set, nor were they trained on how the agile methodology works. A skill assessment at the beginning of the project would have helped the project manager understand the level of competency of the stakeholders in this area. Creating Communications Management plan, holding project kick-off meeting & setting up project team room will be the next steps.

Which is a key component of effective communications with others?

• Trust

• Transparency

• Honesty

• Loyalty

Answer explanation

Building relationships with your stakeholders also helps to build trust between you, them, and your project team – and trust around the project. Trust is a key component of effective communication with others. Stakeholders who feel they can trust you are more apt to share information with you and be engaged in the project.

A company outsources the execution of a project with a fixed-price contract to a supplier. During execution, the supplier agrees to deliver additional customer requirements that were not included in the contract. To fulfill the expanded scope, both parties add more resources to keep the project on the planned schedule. Which technique is being applied in this project?

• Fast tracking

• Crashing

• Resource leveling

• Lead and lag

Answer explanation

If the scope increases without increasing the schedule, the crashing technique achieves compression by adding more resources.

A research and development department is planning to develop a product that will introduce a new line of business for the organization. What should the project manager do to increase the project's chances of success?

• Start developing the project management plan based on a previous project template from the project management office (PMO).

• Conduct an impact analysis of the new initiative to determine how the project should be rolled out.

• Plan a working session focusing on the scope, vision, and mission of the initiative.

• Conduct benchmarking to determine the business viability of the initiative.

Answer explanation

For any project success its critical to initially define vision and mission of the overall initiative even before focusing on detailed planning. Project management plan, determining business viability or impact analysis should be carried out once the initiative is defined properly.

What can a project manager do to communicate the formal project announcement and relevant information to stakeholders, and then gain their commitment?

• Create the project charter.

• Conduct a kick-off meeting.

• Develop the communications management plan.

• Prepare and distribute the responsible, accountable, consult, and inform (RACI) matrix.

Answer explanation

PMBOK Sixth Edition Chapter 1 and 3 provide the details for the response to this question. The Project Manager activities may include consulting with executive and business unit leaders on ideas for advancing strategic objectives, improving organizational performance, or meeting customer needs. The project manager may also be called upon to manage or assist in business analysis, business case development, and aspects of portfolio management for a project. A project manager may also be involved in follow-on activities related to realizing business benefits from the project. After this the project manager is supposed to communicate with the stakeholders.

The correct answer to this question, therefore, is: "Conduct a Kick-Off meeting."

The Distractors are well defined and accepted.

An organization is under a business transformation. The project manager has been assigned to a project related to one of the new business lines. What should the project manager and team do before defining the scope of the project?

• Lead a procurement meeting.

• Create a work breakdown structure (WBS).

• Adapt and tailor existing assets.

• Sign off on the business case.

Answer explanation

The project team will need to tailor existing assets to meet the project’s needs. The team should take advantage of the organization’s existing assets, when appropriate, rather than procuring new ones. The most effective strategy, in general, is to use existing assets that are already in use within the organization. Procuring new assets isn't the best strategy, and building a WBS and signing off come after.

A project manager is developing a project management plan to submit to the project sponsor in two weeks. The project sponsor, however, wants to review the early resource estimates before the deadline. How should the project manager show this information?

• Work breakdown structure (WBS)

• Work breakdown structure (WBS) dictionary

• Statement of work (SOW)

• Resource breakdown structure (RBS)

Answer explanation

The resource breakdown structure is a hierarchical representation of resources by category and type. It is the simplest way to gather information on groups of resources.

WBS Dictionary is a document that provides detailed deliverable, activity, and scheduling information about each component in the work breakdown structure.

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.

Scope of work is the all encompassing scope to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives.

A customer requested a change to a functionality that is being delivered in the next iteration The specialist responsible for this functionality was recently assigned to another project. What should the project manager do first?

• Request a new resource from HR.

• Request a new resource from the project sponsor.

• Negotiate for the resource's availability.

• Tell the customer that the new change is not possible.

Answer explanation

The project manager or project team should effectively negotiate and influence others who are in a position to provide the required team and physical resources for the project. If the resource was a specialist, they would be difficult to replace without impacting the delivery in the next iteration. Telling the customer that their requested change is not possible is not the correct answer, as the PM has not yet determined the feasibility.